| 072 - Nose-in market stick. Kvangkol handle on a stripped pearwood shank. | |||
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The hande is made from an African hardwood which goes under various names,
including Kvangkol, Ovangkol, or Amazaque. This piece shows the lighter sapwood
running down the neck.
I stripped the bark off the pearwood shank, smoothed down the big knobbly bits and lightly stained the wood to give it a rather "old and battered" look. The spacer is of reclaimed black plastic (originally part of a cooling fan housing for some sort of industrial equipment)...
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The Assembled Populace: Never mind all that, Bob, isn't it a bit on the small side? Bob: Not at all. I made it for a rather large customer. Large for a teddy bear, that is... The Assembled Populace: A teddy bear?!! Whatever is the world coming to? Next thing you know he'll be shambling around the town holding animated conversations with street furniture! Bob: Some lamp posts can be remarkably perceptive... |
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It was all Karen's idea anyway. She bought my No.067 crook/market stick and
needed it cut down to a considerably smaller size. Now, Karen owns a teddy bear
shop in Essex, so she suggested I use the offcut to make a stick for one of the
inmates. I had a small handle blank, cut from a rather thin piece of kvangkol,
and working tightly to the inside line produced a handle of just about the
right size. The knobbles on the shank were much too big at this scale and had
to go, along with the bark, to get the shank looking right.
Isn't there a Home For Retired Bears in Peru somewhere? Hmm...could be onto a good thing here. SOLD |
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Update: here is this stick with its new owner.
If you're into teddy bears, Karen's Website is well worth a look:
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